The backlash against Kanye West continues as the list of brands distancing themselves from the rapper is growing. On Tuesday, Sportswear manufacturer Adidas AG announced it is ending its partnership with West following a rash of offensive anti-semitic comments in recent days.
The company’s move came amid public pressure to end the partnership over the rapper’s increasingly erratic and extreme behavior, Bloomberg News reports.
Adidas has partnered with West since 2013, when the company signed his brand away from rival Nike. The brand expanded its relationship with the rapper in 2016, calling it “the most significant partnership ever created between a non-athlete and an athletic brand.”
However, that success has also come with multiple public relations headaches after West got suspended from Twitter and Instagram for posting anti-Semitic rants targeting the Jewish community.
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“The Adidas decision follows weeks of deliberations inside the company, which over the past decade has built the Yeezy line — together with Ye — into a brand that’s accounted for as much as 8% of Adidas’s total sales, according to several estimates from Wall Street analysts,” writes Bloomberg. “Adidas earlier this month called the partnership ‘one of the most successful collaborations in our industry’s history’ and said it will continue co-managing Yeezy products during its review.”
Recently, Ye said “I can say antisemitic s*** and Adidas cannot drop me,” during a tirade against Jews on the Drink Champs Podcast.
Other companies, including Balenciaga and Vogue, publicly cut ties last week, and on Monday, talent agency CAA dropped West as a client. Production company MRC said that it’s shelving a documentary on West.
